Right Through Me
by Rachel Koe
Summary: Toothiana is a girl with a past, Jack is a boy with facts. They seem to be complete opposites, but once a friendship blooms, will it become something more?


She was _stunning_.

Jack paused in the hallway as one of the most hardcore students, Toothiana, walked by him. She held one book in her hands and a pencil on her ear. Her hair was half shaved on one side with bright colors dyed into the bangs that still existed. Her eyes, oh, her eyes were _beautiful_. He didn't know or understand why they were the pretty shade of pink they were. Her skin was a pretty shade of light brown, like fresh coffee with cream in the mornings. She was just _stunning_ in every way Jack could tell. Jack blinked a few times, willing the thoughts away, before resuming his walking. He had a yearbook meeting to get to this morning.

Toothiana blew a bubble with her gum, not having a care in the world as she walked to her first class of the morning. Everyone cleared a path for her as her pink, high-heeled, ankle high converse tapped on the ground. Whenever she turned her head towards someone, most likely someone who'd been whispering about her, they shrunk back in fear.

Tooth had the role of "queen punk" in the school; known for breaking bully bones and hanging out with the scariest guy in school, Bunnymund. She hadn't always been this way; in fact, during her freshmen and sophomore years she had been a very nice girl. The summer between sophomore and junior something happened and she changed. Nobody knows what it was that changed her besides the rumors that have floated around. All they really know is that the nice girl is gone, replaced by this hard-core, kick-ass girl that nobody wants to mess with.

Tooth reached her class very soon, thanks to the pathway cleared by students. She slid into her desk, setting her book down on top of it. She pulled the pencil out from behind her ear, twirling it around in her fingers as she glanced around the room. Her pink eyes halted at the spot Jack, top nerd of the school, would be sitting.

The only reason she noticed that he wasn't there is because she had seen him in the hallway, so she knew he was here in the school. Tooth rolled her eyes. He's probably at a meeting for some nerdy club. He's always missing classes because of those things.

Tooth's thoughts of Jack came to a stop when the teacher stepped into the room, thus beginning the class. She flipped her book open lazily, coming to a stop at the page the teacher had instructed. Her eyes skimmed the title of the short story they would be reading today, "Mister Jester." Tooth was interested; the title was different than any she'd seen before. She began reading along with the rest of the class as instructed.

Jack pushed open the door to the computer lab, Alice already there. This year there was only two of them working on the yearbook since most of the people who'd worked on it last year had either graduated or lost interest in it.

"Jack! I was just getting set up," Alice smiled at him, motioning to the two computers she had checked out of the lab. He sat down in the one next to her and plugged his camera into the port. The pictures he'd taken from the big field trip came up on the screen.

The whole school had gone on a huge trip to a beach for three days. They had rented out two beach houses; one for the girls, one for the boys. It had been really fun and the students all spent their days lounging around on the sand or playing in the water. Jack, of course, had brought one of his books to read while lounging.

"Anything interesting happen this weekend?" Jack asked Alice.

"Actually, yeah, I ran into Toothiana at a charity fund. She actually seemed to be interested in it! It was a shock to see her, but before I could talk to her, she left," Alice concluded, tapping her chin while thinking.

"Interesting," Jack mumbled as he focused on setting the photos up in the yearbook. Alice shook her head and rolled her eyes, knowing he wasn't even really paying attention to what she had said. Once Jack got working on something, he got "_in the zone_" as he had put it. What it means, is that he doesn't really notice anything else besides what he's working on. Alice abandoned the thought , turning to her own work on a different page of the yearbook she was putting the finishing touches on. of talking to him

Jack looked through picture after picture, trying to choose the best one that showed the fun and happy memories of the trip. Finally settling on three, he dragged them onto the page, adding basic subtitles that Alice will edit and making the page look pretty with drawings he had done himself of people playing in the water and on the sand at the bottom of the page.

Jack was, no, is an avid drawer. Any of his free time goes to either drawing or photography. Nobody really knows about the fact that he draws or that all the drawings in the yearbook are by him. Most people assume they are by someone else that he requested for. That is not so.

Reading is just another past-time for Jack to do if he doesn't want to do anything else. He always has a sketchbook and his necessary tools with him in his backpack. He takes it out whenever he sees something intriguing to him or different.

He recently has been drawing a lot of Tooth. He never gets close enough to see all of her features, so most of his drawings of her are half done, unfinished in places he wishes they weren't. She is just really interesting to him with the way she acts and carries herself.

Jack readjusts his glasses, pushing them up higher on his nose as he leans towards the computer screen. All of his focus is going into getting this page to look the best it can; leaving spaces for where Alice puts her writings of each event. Jack does the visuals of the yearbook, Alice does the writing parts.

Once Jack was all done with the visuals, he saved the file and sent it on over to Alice via email. It took him about twenty-five minutes from start to finish to make it.

"Alright, I finished with that page's visuals and sent it on over to you," Jack said, leaning back in his chair to stretch his back out of the weird position it had been in.

"Alright, I'll start working on that one in a couple minutes… I'm still working on the other page," Alice claimed, pushing her blonde hair behind one ear. Jack decided to mess with his white hair, running his hands through it after taking his hat off. He'd thrown the beanie on while rushing through the house. He hadn't had the chance to comb it or brush it or anything before running out of the house to get to school on time.

Alice took one look at him since he was making noise before going back to the screen.

"You should wear your hair like that more often," she muttered.

"What?" Jack asked, confused.

"It looks nicer messy, not combed down. It's cooler when it's spiky like it is now since you didn't brush it," Alice stated.

Jack was taken aback by her comment. Did she really think it looked better messy? His mom always said that he looked better, more "clean cut" she said, when he combed it and made it look nice. He thought about that for a moment; high school isn't really a "clean cut" place….

Maybe he should start wearing it messier, as Alice suggested. _Yes, I think I will…_ Jack thought, taking his hands away from his hair and putting the beanie back on.

Jack opened his backpack, which was sitting next to his chair. He rummaged through it, soon producing a pencil and his sketchbook. He pushed the computer keyboard forward, setting his sketchbook down in its place. He flipped it open to his current drawing. It was a sketch of his little sister, Emma. She was about 11 now, but Jack was drawing her as she had looked as a toddler. It wasn't hard for him to imagine her as a toddler since he had always been so much older than her and always with her, he remembered her in every stage of her life leading up to now.

Jack kept working on the picture, making lines crisper and shading everything nicer, erasing where needed and coloring more where wanted. His glasses slipped down his nose again, but this time he didn't try to fix them. He kept on working as the noises of Alice's typing floated in the background.

Before he knew it, their time was over and Jack was scheduled with his next class as well as Alice. Just before Jack closed his sketchbook, Alice saw his drawing.

"Oh, is that of Emma? She looks so cute!" she squealed and Jack smiled.

"Yeah, it is. Emma has always been a cute girl," he stated, closing the book.

"You're a very nice older brother, I know that if I had an older brother he'd be a lot meaner than you," Alice pouted.

"I've just always known that Emma is a very special little girl and that I shouldn't be mean to her. It's how I was raised," Jack shrugged, putting his things away.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask… why is your hair white? I've always wondered but never asked…" Alice muttered, hoping he wouldn't hear her. Unfortunately, he did.

"It's just always been in the family I guess. My dad's got white hair and so does my grand-dad. Of course, that could just be because he's really old…" Jack trailed off, standing up and throwing his bag over his shoulder.

"That makes sense, sorry for asking a stupid question," Alice said, standing as well and pushing her chair in.

"It's not a stupid question! It's a good question. Most people assume I dye it when I don't," Jack stated, leading them out of the lab.

"Well, see you at lunch period," Alice smiled up at him, bidding him farewell.

"Yeah, see you at lunch," he responded.

Alice took off down the hallway, her blonde hair bouncing as she skipped towards her next class. Jack shook his head at that girl's antics before heading on his way as well.


End file.
